ESRS S2 'Workers in the value chain' is the CSRD social standard that requires companies to disclose the impacts, risks and opportunities relating to workers in their upstream and downstream value chain.
ESRS S3 is the social standard within the ESRS that addresses how a company's operations and value chain affect communities, from human rights to access to resources.
ESRS S4 is the European Sustainability Reporting Standard covering impacts, risks and opportunities related to consumers and end-users, from product safety to responsible consumption.
Adopted in 2021, the EU Adaptation Strategy aims for a climate-resilient Europe by 2050, organised around four objectives: smarter, faster and more systemic adaptation, plus stepped-up international action.
The EU Circular Economy Action Plan (2020) is a pillar of the European Green Deal that aims to make products more durable, repairable and recyclable, and to use resources far more efficiently.
Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 banning the placing on the EU market of seven deforestation-linked commodities unless they are deforestation-free, legal and traceable.
The EU Ecodesign Directive (2009/125/EC) introduced mandatory energy and environmental requirements for energy-related products. It has been repealed by the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781), which extends ecodesign to almost all products.
Official EU voluntary eco-label awarded to goods and services that meet strict, life-cycle-based environmental criteria, governed by Regulation (EC) 66/2010.
The EU Water Framework Directive sets a common framework for protecting Europe's rivers, lakes, groundwater and coastal waters, aiming for good ecological and chemical status through river-basin planning.
Ecodesign is a methodology that builds environmental criteria into a product from conception through end of life, reducing impact across the life cycle while maintaining functionality, quality and cost-effectiveness.
A practical guide to ecodesign for packaging: what it is, the design principles, the EU and Spanish rules (PPWR, Royal Decree 1055/2022) and the most common strategies.
The ecological footprint compares humanity's demand for natural resources with the planet's biocapacity, expressed in global hectares. It is a broader measure than the carbon footprint alone.
The electric footprint quantifies the emissions linked to electricity use by a person, company or region, and points to where efficiency and clean energy can cut them.
Embodied carbon covers the emissions locked into materials and construction, as opposed to the operational emissions produced while a building or product is in use.
The embodied carbon footprint is the sum of emissions from raw material extraction to the factory gate. We explain how it is calculated and how to reduce it.
An emission factor is the coefficient that converts an activity figure (kWh, litres, km) into greenhouse gases emitted, expressed in CO2 equivalent. We explain their types and official sources.
An emissions inventory quantifies an organisation's greenhouse gas emissions across Scopes 1, 2 and 3, providing the baseline for target setting, reduction plans and sustainability reporting.
An emissions trading system (ETS), or carbon market, is a cap-and-trade mechanism that prices greenhouse gas emissions to drive cost-effective reductions.
The reference year against which an organisation compares its emissions to measure reduction progress and set credible targets.
Emissions offsetting balances residual GHG emissions by funding projects that reduce or remove an equivalent amount elsewhere. It should complement, never replace, real reductions.
Directive (EU) 2024/825 protecting consumers from greenwashing: it bans unsubstantiated generic environmental claims, regulates sustainability labels and tackles premature obsolescence. It will apply from 27 September 2026.
The end-of-life carbon footprint quantifies the emissions, and the avoided emissions, linked to what happens to a product once it is discarded: collection, recycling, recovery or disposal.
The EU energy label is a mandatory A to G rating that shows a product's energy efficiency. Since 2021 it has been rescaled to remove the old A+/A++/A+++ classes.
A practical guide to energy efficiency: what it is, how it is calculated, the EU rules that drive it, and why it is one of the cheapest ways to cut emissions and costs.
What environmental governance is, why it matters for climate action, its key components, and how it connects to measuring and reducing the corporate carbon footprint.
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the procedure that identifies, predicts and mitigates the environmental effects of a project before it is approved, supporting informed and sustainable decisions.
An EPD is a verified, registered document that reports the life-cycle environmental performance of a product in a standardised, comparable way under ISO 14025.
Spain's Law 26/2007 transposes the EU Environmental Liability Directive, holding operators financially responsible for preventing and repairing the environmental damage they cause.
Environmental sustainability indicators (KPIs) are metrics that measure an organisation's environmental performance, from scope emissions to carbon intensity or recycling.
Environmental aspects are the points where an organisation's activities interact with the environment, from emissions and discharges to resource use. Identifying them is the basis of environmental management.
What environmental impact means, how it is classified and measured, and why quantifying it (starting with your carbon footprint) is the first step to reducing it.
Environmental legislation is the set of international, EU and national laws that protect the environment, control emissions and increasingly require companies to measure and disclose their impact.
Environmental neutrality is the state in which an activity's negative impacts on the environment are minimised and then offset or restored to reach a net-zero or net-positive balance.
Learn what an environmental policy is, why companies need one, the elements of an effective policy and how to implement it, with links to the regulations that shape it.
What environmental responsibility means for companies, why it matters strategically, and the tools and legal framework, from carbon measurement to Spain's Law 26/2007, that support it.
Environmental rights guarantee a healthy and sustainable environment and the rights to information, participation and justice. Learn what they are, how they evolved and what they mean for companies.
Environmental sustainability indicators (KPIs) are quantitative metrics that track resource use, greenhouse gas emissions and waste, helping organisations measure and manage their environmental impact.
The European Circular Economy Strategy, anchored in the European Green Deal and the 2020 Circular Economy Action Plan, drives the EU towards a regenerative, resource-efficient and climate-neutral economy.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR) replaces the old Ecodesign Directive and extends sustainability and circularity requirements to nearly all products sold in the EU, introducing the Digital Product Passport.
The European Green Deal is the EU's growth strategy to become climate neutral by 2050, with binding 2030 and 2040 targets that increasingly shape how companies report.
The 2018 European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy was the EU's first comprehensive framework to rethink how plastics are designed, used and recycled, and the basis for later single-use plastics and packaging rules.
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